Textile, retail stocks plummet after halt

Don Hogsett -- Home Textiles Today, September 17, 2001

Key textiles and retail stocks took a pounding earlier this week when stock markets resumed trading on Monday after a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center halted trading for four days in the world's largest financial market.

Hoping to hold the markets relatively steady, many corporations rushed in to buy their own stock shortly after the opening bell, and the Fed slashed interest rates by another half a point to boost a flagging U.S. and worldwide economy.

But anxious investors continued to pull out of the equities markets, a move begun weeks before, shifting their assets to the safer haven of cash or bonds.

Hardest hit among textiles stocks was Crown Crafts, which had recently launched a modest recovery after the company was split into two pieces. Crown stock was hit with a 28.6 percent decline, dropping 12 cents a share to a closing price of 30 cents a share. The industry did produce one gain on an otherwise black day, with Pillowtex shares inching up by 1.5 percent, to 16.5 cents a share.

Among retailers, Bed Bath & Beyond and J.C. Penney both recorded double-digit drops of more than 12 percent.

TEXTILES STOCKS

WestPoint Stevens :down 7.2 percent, or $.17, to $2.19 a share.

Pillowtex: up 1.5 percent, to $0.165 a share.

Dan River: -0.9, or $0.01, to $1.16 a share.

Burlington Industries: down 10.0 percent, or $0.15, to $1.35 a share.

Guilford Mills: down 9.6 percent, or $0.11, to $1.04 a share.

Quaker Fabrics: down 9.1 percent, or $0.73, to $7.25.

Crown Crafts: -28.6 percent, or $0.12, to $0.30 a share.

RETAIL STOCKS

Bed, Bath & Beyond: down 12.2 percent, or $2.97, to $21.38 a share.

Linens 'n Things: down 7.5 percent, or $1.66, to $20.60 a share.

Wal-Mart: down 4.8 percent, or $2.23, to $44.00 a share.

J.C. Penney: down 12.2 percent, or $2.80, to $20.20.

Target Stores: down 7.9 percent, or $2.54, to $29.66 a share.

May Department Stores: down 7.9 percent, or $2.50, to $29.25 a share.

Kmart: down 9.5 percent, or $0.87, to $8.26.

Sears: down 10.7 percent, or $4.16, to $34.62.

Kohl's: down 8.2 percent, or $4.00, to $45.00

Federated Department Stores: down 8.7 percent, or $2.77, to $29.00 a share.